1930 L-29: 2928451

Recently I inquired about another Cord L-29. Upon visiting the L-29 in her home for 60 years (literally in storage for 60 years!), I decided to purchase the car and bring it back to the glory days that it once lived; rolling on the streets of America while bringing joy to those that saw her. My friends David Ault and Paul O’Neill traveled with me to bring the L-29 to it’s new home. We had a great time.

The history of the car follows:

It was last licensed by Dorrace Perry of Oxford, Connecticut in 1945. He had purchased the L-29 from the original owner in either 1937 or 1938, according to his daughter Ginny. Ginny also says that her father had taken it to the World’s Fair in New Your City in 1939. The story goes that with all the thousands of cars Dorrace did not remember a landmark to find the L-29 in the huge World’s Fair parking lots. Dorrace’s girl friend at the time (later Ginny’s mother) did not have a good sense of direction, but this one time she did, so it was a running joke for the rest of their lives together.

In 1945 Dorrace drove the L-29 from Oxford to Manchester, New Hampshire, a round-trip distance of about 400 miles. It used a quart of oil, so he felt it needed to be repaired. At that time, in a closing months of World War II, oil was hard to come by. But while the L-29 was in storage waiting to be repaired some kids got to it and vandalized it. It broke Dorrace’s heart, so the Cord was never put back on the road. The last time it ran under its own power was around 1952 or 1953 when Dorrace gave his daughter Ginny a ride while moving it from storage shed to the garage that he built for it.

Dorrace passed away in 1997 at the age of 92. Ginny’s mom and older brother both passed away in February of 2006.